This invention relates to a method and apparatus for dressing griding wheels having operating surfaces with different configurations.
It is well known that, through use, the operating surface of a grinding wheel will become worn. Thus, it is necessary to periodically dress the operating surface of the grinding wheel with a wheel dressing assembly. A known wheel dressing assembly includes a cam surface which has a configuration which corresponds to the desired configuration for the operating surface of the grinding wheel. During a wheel dressing operation, a cam follower is moved along the cam surface to cause a dressing tool to move axially and radially along the operating surface of the grinding wheel. In this manner, a configuration corresponding to the configuration of the cam surface is transferred to the operating surface of the grinding wheel to dress the grinding wheel.
In this known wheel dressing assembly, the cam follower has a pointed or chisel-like shape so that there is point contact between the cam follower and the cam surface. In order to dress grinding wheels having different operating surface configurations, it is necessary to provide a plurality of cam surfaces corresponding to the desired configurations. This operation involves substantial time and expense to produce even minor variations in grinding wheel operating surface configurations. Patents describing wheel dressing assemblies of this known type include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,151,802; 2,187,690; 2,832,330; and 3,008,461.